Brendan Mullan

Associate Professor

Brendan Mullan is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Michigan State University. He holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Demography from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts Honors Degree from the Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland.  Dr. Mullan has served as founding Executive Director of the MSU Dubai Campus in the United Arab Emirates, as Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs in the College of Social Science (with responsibility for all undergraduate academic and student affairs in twelve disciplinary and professional departments and schools in the social, behavioral and economic sciences), and as Acting Director of the Center for Integrative Studies in the College of Social Science (with responsibility for the core curriculum for undergraduate general education in the social sciences at MSU).

In 2006, Dr. Mullan was a fellow with the Committee on Institutional Cooperation Academic Leadership Program (CIC-ALP).  At MSU, Dr. Mullan directed the Michigan Databases and Policy Analysis Unit (1992-1998), providing statistical information, in-depth research analysis and reports and policy analysis for local governments, state government departments, nonprofit organizations, and local communities. Dr. Mullan is the author-editor of 3 books and over 80 scholarly and policy-related publications, presentations and reports on demography, community development, and international migration, and public policy. He has served as primary consultant to the Swedish International Development Agency on their Migration and Community Development in Southern Albania program and variously as consultant to the World Health Organization (2002-04), to the Michigan Department of Community Health (1998-2002), and to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (1994-1996).  In 2009 he was an invited participant to the inaugural World Innovation Summit ion Education (WISE) in Doha, Qatar.

His current research focuses on the socio-economic, socio-demographic, and socio-cultural dynamics of globalization, the causes, content, and consequences of international migration, and the interplay between globalization and migration. Dr. Mullan is an active participant in the American Sociological Association’s sections on International Development and on International Migration.  At MSU he is actively involved with the Center for Russian and European Studies and the Center for Advanced Study of International Development.

Research Interests

• The intersection of ideology and power and the influence of Neoliberalism; Neoliberal globalization and its interrelations with international migration, international development and international higher education.

Areas of Specialization: Migration; Community and Urban

Subareas: Demography, Development, Globalization, International Migration, Quantitative Methods

Recent Publications

Mullan, Brendan and Cristián Doña-Reveco. 2013. “Emigration and the Sending State,” in Steven J. Gold and Stephanie Nawyn (eds.) The Handbook of International Migration, Routledge Press.

Mullan, Brendan and Sophia Koufopoulou. 2011. “Academic Freedom and Academic Capitalism; Globalization Conflicts and Choices for Higher Education,” paper presented at the Hrant Dink 4th Memorial Workshop, May 26-29, Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Awards and Honors

Inaugural Secretary/Treasurer, American Sociological Association Section on International Development, August, 2011

Founding Council Member, American Sociological Association Section on International Development, 2010